Multiple TTI PUSCH transmissions in a wireless communication system

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for a user equipment device (UE) to perform multiple TTI PUSCH transmissions in a wireless communication system as well as code block groups (CBGs) based retransmissions operations. A UE may perform radio resource control (RRC) signaling with a network entity to configure a data structure that may include one or more sets of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission configurations, where each set of PUSCH transmission configurations span multiple TTIs. The wireless device may be configured to receive, from the network entity, a downlink control information (DCI) message that may include a time domain resource assignment field (TDRA) that may indicate a set of PUSCH transmission configurations included in the data structure. The wireless device may perform PUSCH transmissions spanning multiple TTIs according to the indicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations over an unlicensed band.

PRIORITY DATA

This application claims benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/886,902, titled “Multiple TTI PUSCHTransmissions in a Wireless Communication System”, filed Aug. 14, 2019,which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety as thoughfully and completely set forth herein.

FIELD

The present application relates to wireless devices, and moreparticularly to apparatuses, systems, and methods for multiple TTI PUSCHtransmissions in a wireless communication system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recentyears, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers havebecome increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephonecalls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email,text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system(GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications thatutilize these functionalities.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) has become the technology of choice for themajority of wireless network operators worldwide, providing mobilebroadband data and high-speed Internet access to their subscriber base.LTE defines a number of downlink (DL) physical channels, categorized astransport or control channels, to carry information blocks received frommedium access control (MAC) and higher layers. LTE also defines a numberof physical layer channels for the uplink (UL).

For example, LTE defines a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) as aDL transport channel. The PDSCH is the main data-b earing channelallocated to users on a dynamic and opportunistic basis. The PDSCHcarries data in Transport Blocks (TB) corresponding to a MAC protocoldata unit (PDU), passed from the MAC layer to the physical (PHY) layeronce per Transmission Time Interval (TTI). The PDSCH is also used totransmit broadcast information such as System Information Blocks (SIB)and paging messages.

As another example, LTE defines a Physical Downlink Control Channel(PDCCH) as a DL control channel that carries the resource assignment forUEs that are contained in a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message.Multiple PDCCHs can be transmitted in the same subframe using ControlChannel Elements (CCE), each of which is a nine set of four resourceelements known as Resource Element Groups (REG). The PDCCH employsquadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation, with four QPSK symbolsmapped to each REG. Furthermore, 1, 2, 4, or 8 CCEs can be used for aUE, depending on channel conditions, to ensure sufficient robustness.

Additionally, LTE defines a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) as aUL channel shared by all devices (user equipment, UE) in a radio cell totransmit user data to the network. The scheduling for all UEs is undercontrol of the LTE base station (enhanced Node B, or eNB). The eNB usesthe uplink scheduling grant (DCI format 0) to inform the UE aboutresource block (RB) assignment, and the modulation and coding scheme tobe used. PUSCH typically supports QPSK and quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM). In addition to user data, the PUSCH also carries anycontrol information necessary to decode the information, such astransport format indicators and multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO)parameters. Control data is multiplexed with information data prior todigital Fourier transform (DFT) spreading.

A proposed next telecommunications standard moving beyond the currentInternational Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced)Standards is called 5th generation mobile networks or 5th generationwireless systems, or 5G for short (otherwise known as 5G-NR for 5G NewRadio, also simply referred to as NR). 5G-NR proposes a higher capacityfor a higher density of mobile broadband users, also supportingdevice-to-device, ultra-reliable, and massive machine communications, aswell as lower latency and lower battery consumption, than current LTEstandards. Further, the 5G-NR standard may allow for less restrictive UEscheduling as compared to current LTE standards. Consequently, effortsare being made in ongoing developments of 5G-NR to take advantage ofhigher throughputs possible at higher frequencies.

SUMMARY

Embodiments relate to apparatuses, systems, and methods for multiple TTIPUSCH transmissions in a wireless communication system.

In some embodiments, a wireless device, e.g., such as a user equipmentdevice (UE), may be configured to perform radio resource control (RRC)signaling with a network entity to configure a data structure that mayinclude one or more sets of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)transmission configurations, where each set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations span a single or multiple TTIs. The wireless device maybe configured to receive, from the network entity, a downlink controlinformation (DCI) message that may include a time domain resourceassignment field (TDRA) that may indicate a set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations included in the data structure. The wireless device mayperform PUSCH transmissions spanning a single or multiple TTIs accordingto the indicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations over anunlicensed band (e.g., an unlicensed frequency band). In someembodiments, each set of PUSCH transmission configurations may includeone or more PUSCH transmission configurations. In some embodiments, eachPUSCH transmission configuration within a set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may include at least one of a start and length indicatorvalue (SLIV), a PUSCH mapping type to be applied, and/or a slot offsetK2 value.

In some embodiments, a wireless device, e.g., such as a user equipmentdevice (UE), may be configured to perform radio resource control (RRC)signaling with a network entity to configure a maximum number of hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) processes with CBG-based retransmissionsto be scheduled by a single multiple transmit time interval (TTI) uplink(UL) grant. The wireless device may be configured to receive a DCImessage that may schedule multiple PUSCH transmissions and HARQprocesses with CBG-based retransmissions across multiple TTIs andperform PUSCH transmissions and CBG-based HARQ retransmissions spanningmultiple TTIs according to the schedule indicated by the DCI message.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with anumber of different types of devices, including but not limited tocellular phones, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portablemedia players, and any of various other computing devices.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtainedwhen the following detailed description of various embodiments isconsidered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A illustrates an example wireless communication system accordingto some embodiments.

FIG. 1B illustrates an example of a base station (BS) and an accesspoint in communication with a user equipment (UE) device according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of a WLAN AccessPoint (AP), according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a UE according to someembodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a BS according to someembodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of cellular communicationcircuitry, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example of connections between an EPC network, anLTE base station (eNB), and a 5G NR base station (gNB).

FIG. 6B illustrates an example of a protocol stack for an eNB and a gNB.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture thatincorporates both 3GPP (e.g., cellular) and non-3GPP (e.g.,non-cellular) access to the 5G CN, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7B illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture thatincorporates both dual 3GPP (e.g., LTE and 5G NR) access and non-3GPPaccess to the 5G CN, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a baseband processor architecture for aUE, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 9A illustrates an example of an RRC-configured table for amulti-slot PUSCH time domain resource allocation, according to someembodiments.

FIGS. 9B-C illustrate example time-slot allocations for the table ofFIG. 9A, according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 10A-B illustrate ASN.1 syntax for defining data structuresaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method forscheduling a user equipment device (UE) to transmit over multipletransmit time intervals (TTIs) using an unlicensed band, according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of CBG-based retransmission formulti-slot/mini-slots PUSCH scheduling, according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 13A-B illustrate examples for starting PUSCH index, S, andcorresponding transmissions, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method for codeblock groups (CBGs) based retransmissions operation formulti-slot/mini-slot PUSCH scheduling, according to some embodiments.

While the features described herein may be susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof areshown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described indetail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particularform disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Terms

The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium mayinclude other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems,including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system,workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digitalassistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or otherdevice or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computersystem” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combinationof devices) having at least one processor that executes instructionsfrom a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gamingdevices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™,iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. smart watch, smart glasses),PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, orother handheld devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device”can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/ortelecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easilytransported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Base Station—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing Element—refers to various elements or combinations ofelements that are capable of performing a function in a device, such asa user equipment or a cellular network device. Processing elements mayinclude, for example: processors and associated memory, portions orcircuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores,processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations ofthe above.

Channel—a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter)to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term“channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term“channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a mannerthat is consistent with the standard of the type of device withreference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widthsmay be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions,etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels may be 22 MHz wide whileBluetooth channels may be 1 Mhz wide. Other protocols and standards mayinclude different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standardsmay define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channelsfor uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different uses suchas data, control information, etc.

Band—The term “band” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, andat least includes a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum)in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Approximately—refers to a value that is almost correct or exact. Forexample, approximately may refer to a value that is within 1 to 10percent of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however,that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be applicationdependent. For example, in some embodiments, “approximately” may meanwithin 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various otherembodiments, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, and soforth, as desired or as required by the particular application.

Concurrent—refers to parallel execution or performance, where tasks,processes, or programs are performed in an at least partiallyoverlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be implemented using“strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are performed (at leastpartially) in parallel on respective computational elements, or using“weak parallelism”, where the tasks are performed in an interleavedmanner, e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads.

Various components may be described as “configured to” perform a task ortasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad recitation generallymeaning “having structure that” performs the task or tasks duringoperation. As such, the component can be configured to perform the taskeven when the component is not currently performing that task (e.g., aset of electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect amodule to another module, even when the two modules are not connected).In some contexts, “configured to” may be a broad recitation of structuregenerally meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasksduring operation. As such, the component can be configured to performthe task even when the component is not currently on. In general, thecircuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” mayinclude hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) interpretation for that component.

FIGS. 1A and 1B—Communication Systems

FIG. 1A illustrates a simplified example wireless communication system,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system of FIG. 1 ismerely one example of a possible system, and that features of thisdisclosure may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a basestation 102A which communicates over a transmission medium with one ormore user devices 106A, 106B, etc., through 106N. Each of the userdevices may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” (UE). Thus, theuser devices 106 are referred to as UEs or UE devices.

The base station (BS) 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) orcell site (a “cellular base station”) and may include hardware thatenables wireless communication with the UEs 106A through 106N.

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may bereferred to as a “cell.” The base station 102A and the UEs 106 may beconfigured to communicate over the transmission medium using any ofvarious radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wirelesscommunication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM,UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces),LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G new radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000(e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. Note that if the base station102A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately bereferred to as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. Note that if the base station 102Ais implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referredto as ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’.

As shown, the base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate witha network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, atelecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network(PSTN), and/or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, thebase station 102A may facilitate communication between the user devicesand/or between the user devices and the network 100. In particular, thecellular base station 102A may provide UEs 106 with varioustelecommunication capabilities, such as voice, SMS and/or data services.

Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations102B . . . 102N) operating according to the same or a different cellularcommunication standard may thus be provided as a network of cells, whichmay provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs106A-N and similar devices over a geographic area via one or morecellular communication standards.

Thus, while base station 102A may act as a “serving cell” for UEs 106A-Nas illustrated in FIG. 1 , each UE 106 may also be capable of receivingsignals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or moreother cells (which might be provided by base stations 102B-N and/or anyother base stations), which may be referred to as “neighboring cells”.Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communication betweenuser devices and/or between user devices and the network 100. Such cellsmay include “macro” cells, “micro” cells, “pico” cells, and/or cellswhich provide any of various other granularities of service area size.For example, base stations 102A-B illustrated in FIG. 1 might be macrocells, while base station 102N might be a micro cell. Otherconfigurations are also possible.

In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In someembodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core(EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. In addition, a gNB cellmay include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Inaddition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connectedto one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiplewireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may beconfigured to communicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi)and/or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth,Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellularcommunication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example,WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.). The UE 106 may alsoor alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more globalnavigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or moremobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H or DVB-H),and/or any other wireless communication protocol, if desired. Othercombinations of wireless communication standards (including more thantwo wireless communication standards) are also possible.

FIG. 1B illustrates user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the devices 106Athrough 106N) in communication with a base station 102 and an accesspoint 112, according to some embodiments. The UE 106 may be a devicewith both cellular communication capability and non-cellularcommunication capability (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and so forth) such asa mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer or a tablet, or virtuallyany type of wireless device.

The UE 106 may include a processor that is configured to execute programinstructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the methodembodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions.Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 may include a programmablehardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) that isconfigured to perform any of the method embodiments described herein, orany portion of any of the method embodiments described herein.

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using oneor more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In someembodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, forexample, CDMA2000 (1×RTT/1×EV-DO/HRPD/eHRPD), LTE/LTE-Advanced, or 5G NRusing a single shared radio and/or GSM, LTE, LTE-Advanced, or 5G NRusing the single shared radio. The shared radio may couple to a singleantenna, or may couple to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) forperforming wireless communications. In general, a radio may include anycombination of a baseband processor, analog RF signal processingcircuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers,etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation aswell as other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implementone or more receive and transmit chains using the aforementionedhardware. For example, the UE 106 may share one or more parts of areceive and/or transmit chain between multiple wireless communicationtechnologies, such as those discussed above.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and/orreceive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radiocomponents) for each wireless communication protocol with which it isconfigured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE 106 mayinclude one or more radios which are shared between multiple wirelesscommunication protocols, and one or more radios which are usedexclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example,the UE 106 might include a shared radio for communicating using eitherof LTE or 5G NR (or LTE or 1×RTTor LTE or GSM), and separate radios forcommunicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurationsare also possible.

FIG. 2 —Access Point Block Diagram

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of an access point (AP)112. It is noted that the block diagram of the AP of FIG. 2 is only oneexample of a possible system. As shown, the AP 112 may includeprocessor(s) 204 which may execute program instructions for the AP 112.The processor(s) 204 may also be coupled (directly or indirectly) tomemory management unit (MMU) 240, which may be configured to receiveaddresses from the processor(s) 204 and to translate those addresses tolocations in memory (e.g., memory 260 and read only memory (ROM) 250) orto other circuits or devices.

The AP 112 may include at least one network port 270. The network port270 may be configured to couple to a wired network and provide aplurality of devices, such as UEs 106, access to the Internet. Forexample, the network port 270 (or an additional network port) may beconfigured to couple to a local network, such as a home network or anenterprise network. For example, port 270 may be an Ethernet port. Thelocal network may provide connectivity to additional networks, such asthe Internet.

The AP 112 may include at least one antenna 234, which may be configuredto operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured tocommunicate with UE 106 via wireless communication circuitry 230. Theantenna 234 communicates with the wireless communication circuitry 230via communication chain 232. Communication chain 232 may include one ormore receive chains, one or more transmit chains or both. The wirelesscommunication circuitry 230 may be configured to communicate via Wi-Fior WLAN, e.g., 802.11. The wireless communication circuitry 230 mayalso, or alternatively, be configured to communicate via various otherwireless communication technologies, including, but not limited to, 5GNR, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), Global System forMobile (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), CDMA2000,etc., for example when the AP is co-located with a base station in caseof a small cell, or in other instances when it may be desirable for theAP 112 to communicate via various different wireless communicationtechnologies.

In some embodiments, as further described below, an AP 112 may beconfigured to perform methods for multiple TTI PUSCH transmissions in awireless communication system as further described herein.

FIG. 3 —Block Diagram of a UE

FIG. 3 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of acommunication device 106, according to some embodiments. It is notedthat the block diagram of the communication device of FIG. 3 is only oneexample of a possible communication device. According to embodiments,communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobiledevice or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, adesktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., alaptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and/or acombination of devices, among other devices. As shown, the communicationdevice 106 may include a set of components 300 configured to performcore functions. For example, this set of components may be implementedas a system on chip (SOC), which may include portions for variouspurposes. Alternatively, this set of components 300 may be implementedas separate components or groups of components for the various purposes.The set of components 300 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively;directly or indirectly) to various other circuits of the communicationdevice 106.

For example, the communication device 106 may include various types ofmemory (e.g., including NAND flash 310), an input/output interface suchas connector I/F 320 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; dock;charging station; input devices, such as a microphone, camera, keyboard;output devices, such as speakers; etc.), the display 360, which may beintegrated with or external to the communication device 106, andcellular communication circuitry 330 such as for 5G NR, LTE, GSM, etc.,and short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 329 (e.g.,Bluetooth™ and WLAN circuitry). In some embodiments, communicationdevice 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), suchas a network interface card, e.g., for Ethernet.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antennas 335 and 336 as shown. The short to medium range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329 may also couple (e.g., communicatively;directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 337and 338 as shown. Alternatively, the short to medium range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329 may couple (e.g., communicatively; directlyor indirectly) to the antennas 335 and 336 in addition to, or insteadof, coupling (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to theantennas 337 and 338. The short to medium range wireless communicationcircuitry 329 and/or cellular communication circuitry 330 may includemultiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains for receivingand/or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in amultiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration.

In some embodiments, as further described below, cellular communicationcircuitry 330 may include dedicated receive chains (including and/orcoupled to, e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly, dedicatedprocessors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chainfor LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in someembodiments, cellular communication circuitry 330 may include a singletransmit chain that may be switched between radios dedicated to specificRATs. For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g.,LTE, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and atransmit chain shared with an additional radio, e.g., a second radiothat may be dedicated to a second RAT, e.g., 5G NR, and may be incommunication with a dedicated receive chain and the shared transmitchain.

The communication device 106 may also include and/or be configured foruse with one or more user interface elements. The user interfaceelements may include any of various elements, such as display 360 (whichmay be a touchscreen display), a keyboard (which may be a discretekeyboard or may be implemented as part of a touchscreen display), amouse, a microphone and/or speakers, one or more cameras, one or morebuttons, and/or any of various other elements capable of providinginformation to a user and/or receiving or interpreting user input.

The communication device 106 may further include one or more smart cards345 that include SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such asone or more UICC(s) (Universal Integrated Circuit Card(s)) cards 345.

As shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s) 302, which may executeprogram instructions for the communication device 106 and displaycircuitry 304, which may perform graphics processing and provide displaysignals to the display 360. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled tomemory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receiveaddresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses tolocations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, NANDflash memory 310) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as thedisplay circuitry 304, short to medium range wireless communicationcircuitry 329, cellular communication circuitry 330, connector I/F 320,and/or display 360. The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memoryprotection and page table translation or set up. In some embodiments,the MMU 340 may be included as a portion of the processor(s) 302.

As noted above, the communication device 106 may be configured tocommunicate using wireless and/or wired communication circuitry. Thecommunication device 106 may be configured to perform methods formultiple TTI PUSCH transmissions in a wireless communication system asfurther described herein.

As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardwareand software components for implementing the above features for acommunication device 106 to communicate a scheduling profile for powersavings to a network. The processor 302 of the communication device 106may be configured to implement part or all of the features describedherein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memorymedium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium).Alternatively (or in addition), processor 302 may be configured as aprogrammable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable GateArray), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 302 of the communicationdevice 106, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 300,304, 306, 310, 320, 329, 330, 340, 345, 350, 360 may be configured toimplement part or all of the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processor 302 may include one or moreprocessing elements. Thus, processor 302 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processor 302. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processor(s) 302.

Further, as described herein, cellular communication circuitry 330 andshort to medium range wireless communication circuitry 329 may eachinclude one or more processing elements. In other words, one or moreprocessing elements may be included in cellular communication circuitry330 and, similarly, one or more processing elements may be included inshort to medium range wireless communication circuitry 329. Thus,cellular communication circuitry 330 may include one or more integratedcircuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of cellularcommunication circuitry 330. In addition, each integrated circuit mayinclude circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.)configured to perform the functions of cellular communication circuitry330. Similarly, the short to medium range wireless communicationcircuitry 329 may include one or more ICs that are configured to performthe functions of short to medium range wireless communication circuitry329. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g.,first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform thefunctions of short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 329.

FIG. 4 —Block Diagram of a Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG.4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to thetelephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2 .

The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also oralternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., acore network of a cellular service provider. The core network mayprovide mobility related services and/or other services to a pluralityof devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 470may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or the corenetwork may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devicesserviced by the cellular service provider).

In some embodiments, base station 102 may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In suchembodiments, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolvedpacket core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. Inaddition, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and mayinclude one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition,a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one ormore TRPs within one or more gNB s.

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possiblymultiple antennas. The at least one antenna 434 may be configured tooperate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured tocommunicate with UE devices 106 via radio 430. The antenna 434communicates with the radio 430 via communication chain 432.Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain orboth. The radio 430 may be configured to communicate via variouswireless communication standards, including, but not limited to, 5G NR,LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

The base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly usingmultiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the basestation 102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the basestation 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 mayinclude an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE aswell as a 5G NR radio for performing communication according to 5G NR.In such a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as bothan LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility,the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio which is capable ofperforming communications according to any of multiple wirelesscommunication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTEand UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102 may includehardware and software components for implementing or supportingimplementation of features described herein. The processor 404 of thebase station 102 may be configured to implement or supportimplementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., byexecuting program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, theprocessor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively(or in addition) the processor 404 of the BS 102, in conjunction withone or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or allof the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 404 may be comprised ofone or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processingelements may be included in processor(s) 404. Thus, processor(s) 404 mayinclude one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured toperform the functions of processor(s) 404. In addition, each integratedcircuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry,etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 404.

Further, as described herein, radio 430 may be comprised of one or moreprocessing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements maybe included in radio 430. Thus, radio 430 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof radio 430. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry(e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to performthe functions of radio 430.

FIG. 5 : Block Diagram of Cellular Communication Circuitry

FIG. 5 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of cellularcommunication circuitry, according to some embodiments. It is noted thatthe block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of FIG. 5 isonly one example of a possible cellular communication circuit. Accordingto embodiments, cellular communication circuitry 330 may be included ina communication device, such as communication device 106 describedabove. As noted above, communication device 106 may be a user equipment(UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device orwireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobilecomputing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computingdevice), a tablet and/or a combination of devices, among other devices.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antennas 335 a-b and 336 as shown (in FIG. 3 ). In some embodiments,cellular communication circuitry 330 may include dedicated receivechains (including and/or coupled to, e.g., communicatively; directly orindirectly, dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g.,a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). Forexample, as shown in FIG. 5 , cellular communication circuitry 330 mayinclude a modem 510 and a modem 520. Modem 510 may be configured forcommunications according to a first RAT, e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A, andmodem 520 may be configured for communications according to a secondRAT, e.g., such as 5G NR.

As shown, modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and a memory516 in communication with processors 512. Modem 510 may be incommunication with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. RF front end530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals.For example, RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 andtransmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 532may be in communication with downlink (DL) front end 550, which mayinclude circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335 a.

Similarly, modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and a memory526 in communication with processors 522. Modem 520 may be incommunication with an RF front end 540. RF front end 540 may includecircuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RFfront end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry544. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 542 may be in communicationwith DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radiosignals via antenna 335 b.

In some embodiments, a switch 570 may couple transmit circuitry 534 touplink (UL) front end 572. In addition, switch 570 may couple transmitcircuitry 544 to UL front end 572. UL front end 572 may includecircuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Thus, whencellular communication circuitry 330 receives instructions to transmitaccording to the first RAT (e.g., as supported via modem 510), switch570 may be switched to a first state that allows modem 510 to transmitsignals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain thatincludes transmit circuitry 534 and UL front end 572). Similarly, whencellular communication circuitry 330 receives instructions to transmitaccording to the second RAT (e.g., as supported via modem 520), switch570 may be switched to a second state that allows modem 520 to transmitsignals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain thatincludes transmit circuitry 544 and UL front end 572).

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may beconfigured to perform methods for multiple TTI PUSCH transmissions in awireless communication system as further described herein.

As described herein, the modem 510 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing the above features or for time divisionmultiplexing UL data for NSA NR operations, as well as the various othertechniques described herein. The processors 512 may be configured toimplement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., byexecuting program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or inaddition), processor 512 may be configured as a programmable hardwareelement, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC(Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or inaddition) the processor 512, in conjunction with one or more of theother components 530, 532, 534, 550, 570, 572, 335 and 336 may beconfigured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processors 512 may include one or moreprocessing elements. Thus, processors 512 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processors 512. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processors 512.

As described herein, the modem 520 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing the above features for communicating ascheduling profile for power savings to a network, as well as thevarious other techniques described herein. The processors 522 may beconfigured to implement part or all of the features described herein,e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g.,a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or inaddition), processor 522 may be configured as a programmable hardwareelement, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC(Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or inaddition) the processor 522, in conjunction with one or more of theother components 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335 and 336 may beconfigured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processors 522 may include one or moreprocessing elements. Thus, processors 522 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processors 522. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processors 522.

5G NR Architecture with LTE

In some implementations, fifth generation (5G) wireless communicationwill initially be deployed concurrently with current wirelesscommunication standards (e.g., LTE). For example, dual connectivitybetween LTE and 5G new radio (5G NR or NR) has been specified as part ofthe initial deployment of NR. Thus, as illustrated in FIGS. 6A-B,evolved packet core (EPC) network 600 may continue to communicate withcurrent LTE base stations (e.g., eNB 602). In addition, eNB 602 may bein communication with a 5G NR base station (e.g., gNB 604) and may passdata between the EPC network 600 and gNB 604. Thus, EPC network 600 maybe used (or reused) and gNB 604 may serve as extra capacity for UEs,e.g., for providing increased downlink throughput to UEs. In otherwords, LTE may be used for control plane signaling and NR may be usedfor user plane signaling. Thus, LTE may be used to establish connectionsto the network and NR may be used for data services.

FIG. 6B illustrates a proposed protocol stack for eNB 602 and gNB 604.As shown, eNB 602 may include a medium access control (MAC) layer 632that interfaces with radio link control (RLC) layers 622 a-b. RLC layer622 a may also interface with packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)layer 612 a and RLC layer 622 b may interface with PDCP layer 612 b.Similar to dual connectivity as specified in LTE-Advanced Release 12,PDCP layer 612 a may interface via a master cell group (MCG) bearer withEPC network 600 whereas PDCP layer 612 b may interface via a splitbearer with EPC network 600.

Additionally, as shown, gNB 604 may include a MAC layer 634 thatinterfaces with RLC layers 624 a-b. RLC layer 624 a may interface withPDCP layer 612 b of eNB 602 via an X2 interface for information exchangeand/or coordination (e.g., scheduling of a UE) between eNB 602 and gNB604. In addition, RLC layer 624 b may interface with PDCP layer 614.Similar to dual connectivity as specified in LTE-Advanced Release 12,PDCP layer 614 may interface with EPC network 600 via a secondary cellgroup (SCG) bearer. Thus, eNB 602 may be considered a master node (MeNB)while gNB 604 may be considered a secondary node (SgNB). In somescenarios, a UE may be required to maintain a connection to both an MeNBand a SgNB. In such scenarios, the MeNB may be used to maintain a radioresource control (RRC) connection to an EPC while the SgNB may be usedfor capacity (e.g., additional downlink and/or uplink throughput).

5G Core Network Architecture—Interworking with Wi-Fi

In some embodiments, the 5G core network (CN) may be accessed via (orthrough) a cellular connection/interface (e.g., via a 3GPP communicationarchitecture/protocol) and a non-cellular connection/interface (e.g., anon-3GPP access architecture/protocol such as Wi-Fi connection). FIG. 7Aillustrates an example of a 5G network architecture that incorporatesboth 3GPP (e.g., cellular) and non-3GPP (e.g., non-cellular) access tothe 5G CN, according to some embodiments. As shown, a user equipmentdevice (e.g., such as UE 106) may access the 5G CN through both a radioaccess network (RAN, e.g., such as gNB or base station 604) and anaccess point, such as AP 112. The AP 112 may include a connection to theInternet 700 as well as a connection to a non-3GPP inter-workingfunction (N3IWF) 702 network entity. The N3IWF may include a connectionto a core access and mobility management function (AMF) 704 of the 5GCN. The AMF 704 may include an instance of a 5G mobility management (5GMM) function associated with the UE 106. In addition, the RAN (e.g., gNB604) may also have a connection to the AMF 704. Thus, the 5G CN maysupport unified authentication over both connections as well as allowsimultaneous registration for UE 106 access via both gNB 604 and AP 112.As shown, the AMF 704 may include one or more functional entitiesassociated with the 5G CN (e.g., network slice selection function (NSSF)720, short message service function (SMSF) 722, application function(AF) 724, unified data management (UDM) 726, policy control function(PCF) 728, and/or authentication server function (AUSF) 730). Note thatthese functional entities may also be supported by a session managementfunction (SMF) 706 a and an SMF 706 b of the 5G CN. The AMF 706 may beconnected to (or in communication with) the SMF 706 a. Further, the gNB604 may in communication with (or connected to) a user plane function(UPF) 708 a that may also be communication with the SMF 706 a.Similarly, the N3IWF 702 may be communicating with a UPF 708 b that mayalso be communicating with the SMF 706 b. Both UPFs may be communicatingwith the data network (e.g., DN 710 a and 710 b) and/or the Internet 700and IMS core network 710.

FIG. 7B illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture thatincorporates both dual 3GPP (e.g., LTE and 5G NR) access and non-3GPPaccess to the 5G CN, according to some embodiments. As shown, a userequipment device (e.g., such as UE 106) may access the 5G CN throughboth a radio access network (RAN, e.g., such as gNB or base station 604or eNB or base station 602) and an access point, such as AP 112. The AP112 may include a connection to the Internet 700 as well as a connectionto the N3IWF 702 network entity. The N3IWF may include a connection tothe AMF 704 of the 5G CN. The AMF 704 may include an instance of the 5GMM function associated with the UE 106. In addition, the RAN (e.g., gNB604) may also have a connection to the AMF 704. Thus, the 5G CN maysupport unified authentication over both connections as well as allowsimultaneous registration for UE 106 access via both gNB 604 and AP 112.In addition, the 5G CN may support dual-registration of the UE on both alegacy network (e.g., LTE via base station 602) and a 5G network (e.g.,via base station 604). As shown, the base station 602 may haveconnections to a mobility management entity (MME) 742 and a servinggateway (SGW) 744. The MME 742 may have connections to both the SGW 744and the AMF 704. In addition, the SGW 744 may have connections to boththe SMF 706 a and the UPF 708 a. As shown, the AMF 704 may include oneor more functional entities associated with the 5G CN (e.g., NSSF 720,SMSF 722, AF 724, UDM 726, PCF 728, and/or AUSF 730). Note that UDM 726may also include a home subscriber server (HSS) function and the PCF mayalso include a policy and charging rules function (PCRF). Note furtherthat these functional entities may also be supported by the SMF 706 aand the SMF 706 b of the 5G CN. The AMF 706 may be connected to (or incommunication with) the SMF 706 a. Further, the gNB 604 may incommunication with (or connected to) the UPF 708 a that may also becommunication with the SMF 706 a. Similarly, the N3IWF 702 may becommunicating with a UPF 708 b that may also be communicating with theSMF 706 b. Both UPFs may be communicating with the data network (e.g.,DN 710 a and 710 b) and/or the Internet 700 and IMS core network 710.

Note that in various embodiments, one or more of the above describednetwork entities may be configured to perform methods to improvesecurity checks in a 5G NR network, including mechanisms for multipleTTI PUSCH transmissions in a wireless communication system, e.g., asfurther described herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a baseband processor architecture for aUE (e.g., such as UE 106), according to some embodiments. The basebandprocessor architecture 800 described in FIG. 8 may be implemented on oneor more radios (e.g., radios 329 and/or 330 described above) or modems(e.g., modems 510 and/or 520) as described above. As shown, thenon-access stratum (NAS) 810 may include a 5G NAS 820 and a legacy NAS850. The legacy NAS 850 may include a communication connection with alegacy access stratum (AS) 870. The 5G NAS 820 may include communicationconnections with both a 5G AS 840 and a non-3GPP AS 830 and Wi-Fi AS832. The 5G NAS 820 may include functional entities associated with bothaccess stratums. Thus, the 5G NAS 820 may include multiple 5G MMentities 826 and 828 and 5G session management (SM) entities 822 and824. The legacy NAS 850 may include functional entities such as shortmessage service (SMS) entity 852, evolved packet system (EPS) sessionmanagement (ESM) entity 854, session management (SM) entity 856, EPSmobility management (EMM) entity 858, and mobility management (MM)/GPRSmobility management (GMM) entity 860. In addition, the legacy AS 870 mayinclude functional entities such as LTE AS 872, UMTS AS 874, and/orGSM/GPRS AS 876.

Thus, the baseband processor architecture 800 allows for a common 5G-NASfor both 5G cellular and non-cellular (e.g., non-3GPP access). Note thatas shown, the 5G MM may maintain individual connection management andregistration management state machines for each connection.Additionally, a device (e.g., UE 106) may register to a single PLMN(e.g., 5G CN) using 5G cellular access as well as non-cellular access.Further, it may be possible for the device to be in a connected state inone access and an idle state in another access and vice versa. Finally,there may be common 5G-MM procedures (e.g., registration,de-registration, identification, authentication, as so forth) for bothaccesses.

Note that in various embodiments, one or more of the above describedfunctional entities of the 5G NAS and/or 5G AS may be configured toperform methods for multiple TTI PUSCH transmissions in a wirelesscommunication system, e.g., as further described herein.

Multiple TTI PUSCH Transmissions

In current communication systems, certain unlicensed band, e.g. such asa 5 GHz band and/or a 6 GHz band, have communication systems deployed,e.g., such as Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz band. Thus, a 5G NR unlicensed (NR-U)band access system needs to be able to fairly co-exist with systemsalready deployed in the unlicensed bands. For example, an NR-U accesssystem deployed in the 5 GHz band should enable fair coexistence withWi-Fi access systems deployed in the 5 GHz band. Thus, alisten-before-talk (LBT) mechanism (e.g., an energy-detection-based(ED-based) channel access mechanism) may be conducted beforetransmissions to ensure fair coexistence with incumbent systems.

However, in current implementations of 5G NR (e.g., such as 3GPP Release15), a downlink control information (DCI) format may only schedule asingle physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission. As aconsequence, scheduling multiple PUSCH transmissions over a single ormultiple transmit time intervals (TTIs) may require multiple DCI messagetransmissions, e.g., as required for licensed band transmissions.However, although such a scheme may be a good design for licensed bandaccess, e.g., to provide flexibility for PUSCH scheduling, it is notsuitable for NR-U operation on unlicensed band because multiple DCIscheduling requests require multiple LBT procedures (e.g., an LBTprocedure may be required for each DCI scheduling request) by thenetwork (base station) to access a channel in the unlicensed band forDCI transmissions to schedule PUSCH.

This problem has been addressed by allowing support in NR-U formulti-TTI PUSCH transmissions scheduling using a single DCI format. Forexample, the scheduling of multiple TTIs for PUSCH transmissions, eachusing a separate uplink (UL) grant in the same physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) monitoring occasion will be supported in NR-U.Additionally, the scheduling of multiple TTIs for PUSCH transmissionsusing a single UL grant will be supported in NR-U.

Embodiments described herein provide systems, methods, and mechanismsfor implementing multi-TTI scheduling in NR-U using a single DCI format.For example, embodiments described herein provide mechanisms forallocating time domain resources for multi-TTI PUSCH transmissionsscheduling in NR-U. Additionally, embodiments described herein providemechanisms for enabling code block group (CBG) based hybrid automaticrepeat request (HARQ) operations for PUSCH with multi-TTI scheduling inNR-U.

In some embodiments, a UE may be scheduled to transmit transport blocks(TBs) on multiple PUSCH transmission opportunities over multiple slotsand/or mini-slots using an unlicensed band via a DCI message. In someembodiments, a time domain resource assignment field (TDRA) value, m, ofthe DCI message (or format) may provide a row index, e.g., m+1, to atable configured by higher layer signaling, e.g., such as radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling. In some embodiments, each row of theRRC-configured table may contain one or more PUSCH transmissionconfigurations (e.g., a set of PUSCH transmission configurations) andmay be associated with a dedicated row index. In some embodiments, foreach PUSCH transmission configuration of the one or more PUSCHtransmission configurations (and/or within the set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations), an indexed row may define a start and length indicatorvalue (SLIV), a PUSCH mapping type to be applied, and/or a slot offsetK2 value. In some embodiments, a maximum number (or value) of PUSCHtransmission configurations may be predefined and/or indicated by a UEas part of UE capability signaling. In some embodiments, the maximumnumber of PUSCH transmission configurations may be determined via abalancing (or tradeoff) between DCI message (or format) overhead andpayload size of DCI message (or format), e.g., due totransmission-specific parameters in the DCI message (or format).

For example, FIG. 9A illustrates an example of an RRC-configured tablefor a multi-slot PUSCH time domain resource allocation, according tosome embodiments. As shown, indexed row 0 may define (or specify) afirst PUSCH transmission configuration for 4 time domain resourceallocations via definition (or specification) of slot offset K2 value, aPUSCH mapping type, and a SLIV for each time domain resource allocation.Similarly, indexed row 1 may define (or specify) a first PUSCHtransmission configuration for 4 time domain allocations via definition(or specification) of slot offset K2 value, a PUSCH mapping type, and aSLIV for each time domain allocation. In some embodiments, themulti-slot PUSCH time domain resource allocation may aggregate more thanone single-slot PUSCH time domain resource allocation that may be usedfor radio transmissions, such as for an NR unlicensed band (NR-U)system. In particular, as shown if FIGS. 9B and 9C, the multi-slot PUSCHtime domain resource allocation may be implemented by aggregating mixedtype A (e.g., slot-based scheduling) PUSCH transmissions and type B(e.g., mini-slot-based and/or sub-slot-based scheduling) PUSCHtransmissions, either with a gap (e.g. as illustrate by FIG. 9B) orwithout a gap in between (e.g. as illustrated by FIG. 9C). In someembodiments, such a unified framework may provide the network withscheduling flexibility to dynamically fulfil various applicationrequirements.

In some embodiments, abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) may be used todefine a data structure for signaling a multi-slot PUSCH transmissionconfigurations table, e.g., as illustrated by FIG. 10A. As shown, amulti-slot PUSCH transmission configuration table, such asPUSCH-TimeDomainAllocationlist may include a maximum number ofallocations (maxNrOfAllocations) may be specified, as well as K2 values,PUSCH mapping type, and SLIV.

In some embodiments, multiple mini-slot (e.g., sub-slot) type UL grantsmay be transmitted to a UE in order to provide sufficientlisten-before-talk (LBT) opportunities for the UE to reserve channels inthe unlicensed band for transmissions. In some embodiments, a full-slotUL transmission, such as Index 2 of Table 11.1.1-1 of 3GPP TS 38.213v15.6.0, may be assumed with the exception of a starting and ending slotwithin an UL transmission burst. In addition, in some embodiments, itmay be assumed that only contiguous time-domain resource allocationswithout gap may be supported. Based on such assumptions, higher layersignaling may be further simplified due to the lack of need to signal astart symbol of UL transmissions except the first time-domain resourceallocation. For example, as illustrated by FIG. 10B, ASN.1 may be usedto define a data structure for signaling multiple mini-slot type ULgrants. As shown, the data structure may be simplified to only include aPUSCH mapping type and a length.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method forscheduling a user equipment device (UE) to transmit over multipletransmit time intervals (TTIs) using an unlicensed band, according tosome embodiments. The method shown in FIG. 11 may be used in conjunctionwith any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the Figures, amongother devices. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shownmay be performed concurrently, in a different order than shown, or maybe omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired.As shown, this method may operate as follows.

At 1102, a UE, such as UE 106, may perform radio resource control (RRC)signaling with a network entity, such as gNB 604, to configure a datastructure that may include one or more sets of physical uplink sharedchannel (PUSCH) transmission configurations. In some embodiments eachset of PUSCH transmission configurations may span multiple TTIs. In someembodiments, each set of PUSCH transmission configurations may includeone or more PUSCH transmission configurations. In some embodiments, eachPUSCH transmission configuration within a set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may include at least one of (or one or more of, and/orany combination of) a start and length indicator value (SLIV), a PUSCHmapping type to be applied, and/or a slot offset K2 value. In someembodiments, the PUSCH mapping type may indicate one of slot basedscheduling or mini-slot based scheduling. In some embodiments, the UEmay indicate a maximum number of PUSCH transmission configurations. Insome embodiments, a maximum number of PUSCH transmission configurationsmay be predefined. In some embodiments, the maximum number of PUSCHtransmission configurations may be determined (e.g., via communicationsbetween the UE and network) based, at least in part, on a balancingbetween DCI message (or format) overhead and DCI message (or format)payload size. In some embodiments, the data structure may be definedusing abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) and may include aPUSCH-TimeDomainAllocationlist parameter. In some embodiments, thePUSCH-TimeDomainAllocationlist parameter specifies at least one of (orone or more of, and/or any combination of) a maximum number of PUSCHtransmission allocations, a slot offset K2 value, a PUSCH mapping type,and/or a start and length indicator value (SLIV). In some embodiments,the data structure may be simplified to only include a PUSCH mappingtype and a length. In some embodiments, the network (and/or networkentity/base station) may operate according to 3GPP Fifth Generation NewRadio (5G NR) radio access technology (RAT).

At 1104, the UE may receive (from the network) a downlink controlinformation (DCI) message. The DCI message may include a time domainresource assignment field (TDRA) that may indicate (e.g., based on avalue of the TDRA) a set of PUSCH transmission configurations includedin the data structure. In some embodiments, the indicated set of PUSCHtransmission configurations may include a transmission gap between eachPUSCH transmission indicated by the set of PUSCH transmissionconfiguration. In some embodiments, the indicated set of PUSCHtransmission configurations may not include a transmission gap betweeneach PUSCH transmission indicated by the set of PUSCH transmissionconfiguration.

At 1106, the UE may perform PUSCH transmissions spanning multiple TTIsaccording to the indicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations overthe unlicensed band.

In some embodiments, code block group (CBG) based retransmissionsoperation for multi-slot/mini-slot PUSCH scheduling may be supported.Such embodiments may improve spectrum efficiency (e.g., usage of theunlicensed band). In some embodiments, a UE may not expect CBG-basedretransmissions for a transport block (TB)-based PUSCH scheduled by amulti-slots/mini-slots and/or multi-TTIs PUSCH scheduling DCI format(e.g., as described above). In other words, only TB-based transmissionor retransmissions can be scheduled by a multi-slots/mini-slots and/ormulti-TTIs PUSCH scheduling DCI message. However, this approach mayincrease signaling overhead and/or probability of channelunavailability. Thus, to improve resource utilization, in someembodiments, to decrease signaling overhead and/or probability ofchannel unavailability, multiple (e.g., a set of) CBG transmissioninformation (CBGTI) information elements (IEs) may be transmitted via aDCI message that may schedule multi-slots/sub-slots/mini-slots PUSCHtransmissions. In some embodiments, bit numbers of each CBGTI IE (e.g.,a number of CBGs per TB for UL transmissions) may be configured byhigher layers (e.g., via RRC signaling) on a per UE basis. In someembodiments, the number of CBGs per TB may be based, at least in part,on UE capabilities as well as a balancing (or tradeoff) between controlsignaling overhead and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARD) operationefficiency. In some embodiments, a DCI format size may linearly increasewith a number of PUSCH transmissions scheduled by an UL grant.

For example, FIG. 12 illustrates an example of CBG-based retransmissionfor multi-slot/mini-slots PUSCH scheduling, according to someembodiments. As shown, multiple CBG transmission information (CBGTI) IEs1210 to 1240 may be transmitted to a UE, such as UE 106, via DCI format1200 (which may also include other IEs 1250 and CRC 1260) to schedulemulti-PUSCH transmissions 1212-1242. In some embodiments, bit numbers ofeach CBGTI IE 1210 to 1240, which may be denoted as N_(CBG) (e.g., anumber of CBGs per TB for UL transmissions), may be configured by higherlayers on a per UE basis e.g. based on UE geometry and tradeoff betweencontrol signaling overhead and HARQ operation efficiency.

In some embodiments, to reduce signaling overhead of multi-TTI ULgrants, CBGTI fields may be limited to PUSCH retransmissions only andmay not be present for initial PUSCH transmissions. For example, amaximum number of HARQ processes with CBG-based retransmissions (e.g.,N_(CBG,retx) ^(max)) that may be scheduled by a single multi-TTI ULgrant may be configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling)on a per UE basis, e.g., to avoid hypothetical blind detection on DCIformat sizes at UE side. In some embodiments, HARQ process IDs that areassociated with PUSCH retransmission may be implicitly determined by aUE (e.g., based on HARQ-process-specific new data indication (NDI)fields) or signaled in the multi-TTI UL grant as part of the DCI format.For example, a bit map method may be used by CBG-based HARQ process IDs(CBG-HPI) IEs to indicate which HARQ process IDs are retransmitted usingCBG-based HARQ retransmission. In some embodiments, CBG-HPI may includea maximum number of bits, max{┌log₂(maxHPICindex)+1┐,1}, wheremaxHPICindex may be a maximum value of N_(CBG,retx) ^(max) HARQ processcombination indices (HPIC) within PUSCH transmissions scheduled by asingle multi-TTI UL grant. In some embodiments, a HPIC combination thatuses CBG-based retransmission may be identified by a corresponding HPICindex to an HPIC combination table. In some embodiments, the table maybe configured by higher layers (e.g., via RRC signaling) or may bepredefined (e.g., by a specification). In some embodiments, whenN_(CBG,retx) ^(max)=1, a HARQ process ID may be directly indicated in aDCI format due to reduced signaling overhead.

In some embodiments, to further reduce signaling overhead associatedwith CBG-based HARQ operation, a starting slot (or index) and length ofCBG-based PUSCH retransmission within a multi-TTI scheduling may beprovided to the UE. In some embodiments, the starting PUSCH index, S,with CBG-based operation may be relative to a first PUSCH transmissionof the multi-TTI transmissions. Additionally, a number of consecutivePUSCH with CBG-based transmissions, L, counting from the PUSCH index, S,may be indicated. In some embodiments, the indication of the startingPUSCH index, S, and a number of consecutive CBG-based PUSCHs may beseparately indicated using dedicated IEs or jointly signaled by a singleIE in the multi-TTI DCI format.

For example, FIGS. 13A-B illustrate examples for starting PUSCH index,S, and corresponding transmissions, according to some embodiments. Thetable shown in FIG. 13B assumes N_(CBG,retx) ^(max)=2 and that there are4 PUSCH transmissions scheduled by a single multi-TTI scheduling DCIformat. For this example, a total of 3 bits may be sufficient toindicate all combinations of 2 CBG-based PUSCH transmissions, e.g.,PUSCH transmissions 1312-1314, which may be proceeded by TB-based PUSCHtransmission 1310 and followed by TB-based PUSCH transmission 1316.

In some embodiments, a multi-TTI scheduling DCI format may includeinformation elements (IEs) such as priority class (PC) of PUSCHtransmissions and/or LBT type. In some embodiments, a single PC IE inthe DCI format may be applied to all PUSCH transmissions to minimizedownlink control overhead. In some embodiments, to ensure schedulingflexibility of UL shared channel transmissions with possibly differentpriority classes, a separate PC IE may be included in the DCI formatwith a one-to-one association with each PUSCH transmission within aburst of PUSCH transmissions (e.g., at the cost of increased downlinksignaling overhead). In some embodiments, 1 bit may be used to signalLBT type, with a value of 0 indicating category-2 (Cat-2) LBT type and avalue of 1 indicating a category 4 (Cat-4) LBT type. In someembodiments, joint coding of these IEs (e.g., for priority class and LBTtype) may be used to further reduce DCI format sizes.

In some embodiments, aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS)transmissions may be triggered by a multi-TTI scheduling DCI format. Insome embodiments, a UE may transmit the aperiodic SRS transmissions in atriggered SRS resource set in slot flooring defined by

${\left( {n\frac{2^{u_{srs}}}{2^{u_{PDCCH}}}} \right) + k},$where u_(srs) and u_(PDCCH) are a subcarrier spacing configuration forSRS and PDCCH, respectively.

FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method for codeblock groups (CBGs) based retransmissions operation formulti-slot/mini-slot PUSCH scheduling, according to some embodiments.The method shown in FIG. 14 may be used in conjunction with any of thesystems, methods, or devices shown in the Figures, among other devices.In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may beperformed concurrently, in a different order than shown, or may beomitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. Asshown, this method may operate as follows.

At 1402, a UE, such as UE 106, may perform radio resource control (RRC)signaling with a network entity, such as gNB 604, to configure a maximumnumber of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes withCBG-based retransmissions to be scheduled by a single multiple transmittime interval (TTI) uplink (UL) grant. In some embodiments, theCBG-based retransmissions may be indicated via one or more CBGtransmission information (TI) information elements (IEs).

At 1404, the UE may receive a DCI message that may schedule multiplePUSCH transmissions and HARQ processes with CBG-based retransmissionsacross multiple TTIs. In some embodiments, HARQ process identifiersassociated with PUSCH retransmissions may be implicitly determined bythe UE. In some embodiments, HARQ process identifiers associated withPUSCH retransmissions are indicated via the DCI message. In someembodiments, a bit map included in the DCI message may indicate HARQprocess identifiers to be retransmitted using GCB-based retransmissions.In some embodiments, a starting transmission slot and length ofCBG-based retransmissions may be indicated by the DCI message. In someembodiments, the starting transmission slot may be relative to a firstPUSCH transmission of the schedule indicated by the DCI message. In someembodiments, the starting transmission slot and length may be indicatedvia a single information element included in the DCI message. In someembodiments, the DCI message may indicate a priority class andlisten-before-talk (LBT) type. In some embodiments, wherein the priorityclass and LTB type may be indicated via a single information elementincluded in the DCI message. In some embodiments, aperiodic soundingreference signal (SRS) transmissions may be triggered by the DCImessage.

At 1406, the UE may perform PUSCH transmissions and CBG-based HARQretransmissions spanning multiple TTIs according to the scheduleindicated by the DCI message.

Further Embodiments

In some embodiments, a method for scheduling a user equipment device(UE) to transmit over multiple transmit time intervals (TTIs) using anunlicensed band may include a UE (e.g., such as UE 106):

performing radio resource control (RRC) signaling with a network entityto configure a data structure that includes one or more sets of physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission configurations, wherein eachset of PUSCH transmission configurations span a single or multiple TTIs;

receiving, from the network entity, a downlink control information (DCI)message, wherein the DCI message includes a time domain resourceassignment field (TDRA), and wherein a value of the TDRA indicates a setof PUSCH transmission configurations included in the data structure; and

performing PUSCH transmissions spanning a single or multiple TTIsaccording to the indicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations overthe unlicensed band.

In some embodiments, each set of PUSCH transmission configurations mayinclude one or more PUSCH transmission configurations.

In some embodiments, each PUSCH transmission configuration within a setof PUSCH transmission configurations may include at least one of:

a start and length indicator value (SLIV);

a PUSCH mapping type to be applied; and/or

a slot offset K2 value.

In some embodiments, the PUSCH mapping type may indicate one of slotbased scheduling or mini-slot based scheduling.

In some embodiments, the method may include the UE indicating a maximumnumber of PUSCH transmission configurations.

In some embodiments, a maximum number of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may be predefined.

In some embodiments, the maximum number of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may be determined based, at least in part, on a balancingbetween DCI message overhead and DCI message payload size.

In some embodiments, the data structure may be defined using abstractsyntax notation one (ASN.1) and includes aPUSCH-TimeDomainAllocationlist parameter. In some embodiments, thePUSCH-TimeDomainAllocationlist parameter may specify at least one of:

a maximum number of PUSCH transmission allocations;

a K2 value;

a PUSCH mapping type; and/or

a start and length indicator value (SLIV).

In some embodiments, the data structure may be defined using abstractsyntax notation one (ASN.1) and includes a PUSCH mapping type and alength.

In some embodiments, the indicated set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may include a transmission gap between each PUSCHtransmission indicated by the set of PUSCH transmission configuration.

In some embodiments, the indicated set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may not include a transmission gap between each PUSCHtransmission indicated by the set of PUSCH transmission configuration.

In some embodiments, the network entity may operate according to 3GPPFifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) radio access technology (RAT).

In some embodiments, the UE may include:

one or more antennas;

one or more radios, wherein each of the one or more radios is configuredto perform cellular communication using at least one radio accesstechnology (RAT); and

one or more processors coupled to the one or more radios, wherein theone or more processors and the one or more radios are configured toperform voice and/or data communications, and wherein the one or moreprocessors may be configured to cause the UE to perform the method.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable memory mediummay store program instructions executable by processing circuitry tocause the UE to perform the method.

In some embodiments, a method for scheduling a user equipment device(UE) to transmit over multiple transmit time intervals (TTIs) using anunlicensed band may include a network entity (e.g., such as base station102):

configuring, via radio resource control (RRC) signaling with the UE, adata structure that includes one or more sets of physical uplink sharedchannel (PUSCH) transmission configurations, wherein each set of PUSCHtransmission configurations span multiple TTIs;

transmitting, to the UE, a downlink control information (DCI) message,wherein the DCI message includes a time domain resource assignment field(TDRA), and wherein a value of the TDRA indicates a set of PUSCHtransmission configurations included in the data structure; and

receiving, from the UE, PUSCH transmissions spanning multiple TTIsaccording to the indicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations overthe unlicensed band.

In some embodiments, each set of PUSCH transmission configurations mayinclude one or more PUSCH transmission configurations.

In some embodiments, each PUSCH transmission configuration within a setof PUSCH transmission configurations may include at least one of:

a start and length indicator value (SLIV);

a PUSCH mapping type to be applied; and/or

a slot offset K2 value.

In some embodiments, the PUSCH mapping type may indicate one of slotbased scheduling or mini-slot based scheduling.

In some embodiments, the method may include the network entityreceiving, from the UE, an indication of a maximum number of PUSCHtransmission configurations.

In some embodiments, a maximum number of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may be predefined.

In some embodiments, the maximum number of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may be determined based, at least in part, on a balancingbetween DCI message overhead and DCI message payload size.

In some embodiments, the data structure may be defined using abstractsyntax notation one (ASN.1) and includes aPUSCH-TimeDomainAllocationlist parameter.

In some embodiments, the PUSCH-TimeDomainAllocationlist parameter mayspecify at least one of:

a maximum number of PUSCH transmission allocations;

a K2 value;

a PUSCH mapping type; and/or

a start and length indicator value (SLIV).

In some embodiments, the data structure may be defined using abstractsyntax notation one (ASN.1) and includes a PUSCH mapping type and alength.

In some embodiments, the indicated set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may include a transmission gap between each PUSCHtransmission indicated by the set of PUSCH transmission configuration.

In some embodiments, the indicated set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations may not include a transmission gap between each PUSCHtransmission indicated by the set of PUSCH transmission configuration.

In some embodiments, the network entity may operate according to 3GPPFifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) radio access technology (RAT).

In some embodiments, the network entity may include:

at least one antenna;

at least one radio, wherein the at least one radio is configured toperform cellular communication using at least one radio accesstechnology (RAT); and

one or more processors coupled to the at least one radio, wherein theone or more processors and the at least one radio are configured toperform voice and/or data communications, and wherein the one or moreprocessors are configured to cause the network entity to perform themethod.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable memory mediummay store program instructions executable by processing circuitry tocause the network entity to perform the method.

In some embodiments, a method for code block group (CBG) basedretransmissions operation for multi-slot/mini-slot physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUSCH) scheduling, may include a user equipment device(UE) (such as UE 106):

performing radio resource control (RRC) signaling with a network entityto configure a maximum number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)processes with CBG-based retransmissions to be scheduled by a singlemultiple transmit time interval (TTI) uplink (UL) grant;

receiving, from the network entity, a downlink control information (DCI)message, wherein the DCI message schedules multiple PUSCH transmissionsand HARQ processes with CBG-based retransmissions across multiple TTIs;and

performing PUSCH transmissions spanning multiple TTIs according to theschedule indicated by the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the CBG-based retransmissions may be indicated viaone or more CBG transmission information (TI) information elements(IEs).

In some embodiments, HARQ process identifiers associated with PUSCHretransmissions may be implicitly determined by the UE.

In some embodiments, HARQ process identifiers associated with PUSCHretransmissions may be indicated via the DCI message.

In some embodiments, a bit map may indicate HARQ process identifiers tobe retransmitted using GCB-based retransmissions.

In some embodiments, a starting transmission slot and length ofCBG-based retransmissions may be indicated by the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the starting transmission slot may be relative to afirst PUSCH transmission of the schedule indicated by the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the starting transmission slot and length may beindicated via a single information element included in the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the DCI message may indicate priority class andlisten-before-talk (LBT) type.

In some embodiments, the priority class and LTB type may be indicatedvia a single information element included in the DCI message.

In some embodiments, aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS)transmissions may be triggered by the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the UE may include:

one or more antennas;

one or more radios, wherein each of the one or more radios is configuredto perform cellular communication using at least one radio accesstechnology (RAT); and

one or more processors coupled to the one or more radios, wherein theone or more processors and the one or more radios are configured toperform voice and/or data communications, and wherein the one or moreprocessors may be configured to cause the UE to perform the method.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable memory mediummay store program instructions executable by processing circuitry tocause the UE to perform the method.

In some embodiments, a method for code block group (CBG) basedretransmissions operation for multi-slot/mini-slot physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUSCH) scheduling may include a network entity (e.g.,such as base station 102):

performing radio resource control (RRC) signaling with a user equipmentdevice (UE) to configure a maximum number of hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARQ) processes with CBG-based retransmissions to be scheduledby a single multiple transmit time interval (TTI) uplink (UL) grant;

transmitting, to the UE, a downlink control information (DCI) message,wherein the DCI message schedules multiple PUSCH transmissions and HARQprocesses with CBG-based retransmissions across multiple TTIs; and

receiving, from the UE, PUSCH transmissions spanning multiple TTIsaccording to the schedule indicated by the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the CBG-based retransmissions may be indicated viaone or more CBG transmission information (TI) information elements(IEs).

In some embodiments, HARQ process identifiers associated with PUSCHretransmissions may be implicitly determined by the UE.

In some embodiments, HARQ process identifiers associated with PUSCHretransmissions may be indicated via the DCI message.

In some embodiments, a bit map may indicate HARQ process identifiers tobe retransmitted using GCB-based retransmissions.

In some embodiments, a starting transmission slot and length ofCBG-based retransmissions may be indicated by the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the starting transmission slot may be relative to afirst PUSCH transmission of the schedule indicated by the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the starting transmission slot and length may beindicated via a single information element included in the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the DCI message may indicate priority class andlisten-before-talk (LBT) type.

In some embodiments, the priority class and LTB type may be indicatedvia a single information element included in the DCI message.

In some embodiments, aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS)transmissions may be triggered by the DCI message.

In some embodiments, the network entity may include:

at least one antenna;

at least one radio, wherein the at least one radio is configured toperform cellular communication using at least one radio accesstechnology (RAT); and

one or more processors coupled to the at least one radio, wherein theone or more processors and the at least one radio are configured toperform voice and/or data communications, and wherein the one or moreprocessors are configured to cause the network entity to perform themethod.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable memory mediummay store program instructions executable by processing circuitry tocause the network entity to perform the method.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example, some embodiments may be realized as acomputer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or acomputer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodimentsmay be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory mediummay be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, causethe computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE 106) may be configured toinclude a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, wherethe memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor isconfigured to read and execute the program instructions from the memorymedium, where the program instructions are executable to implement anyof the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combinationof the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of themethod embodiments described herein, or, any combination of suchsubsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A user equipment device (UE), comprising: one ormore antennas; one or more radios, wherein each of the one or moreradios is configured to perform cellular communication using at leastone radio access technology (RAT); one or more processors coupled to theone or more radios, wherein the one or more processors and the one ormore radios are configured to perform voice and/or data communications;wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to:receive radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a network entity toidentify a data structure that includes one or more sets of physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission configurations, wherein thedata structure is defined using abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) andincludes a time domain allocation list parameter, and wherein the timedomain allocation list parameter specifies at least one of a maximumnumber of PUSCH transmission allocations, a K2 value, a PUSCH mappingtype, or a start and length indicator value (SLIV); receive, from thenetwork entity, a downlink control information (DCI) message, whereinthe DCI message includes a time domain resource assignment field (TDRA),new data indicators (NDIs) corresponding to PUSCH transmissions, and asingle priority class information field, wherein a value of the TDRAindicates a set of PUSCH transmission configurations included in thedata structure; and perform the PUSCH transmissions spanning a single ormultiple slots over an unlicensed band according to the indicated set ofPUSCH transmission configurations and a priority class indicated in thepriority class information field.
 2. The UE of claim 1, wherein each setof PUSCH transmission configurations includes one or more PUSCHtransmission configurations.
 3. The UE of claim 1, wherein each PUSCHtransmission configuration within a set of PUSCH transmissionconfigurations includes at least one of: a start and length indicatorvalue (SLIV); a PUSCH mapping type to be applied; or a slot offset K2value.
 4. The UE of claim 3, wherein the PUSCH mapping type indicatesone of slot based scheduling or mini-slot based scheduling.
 5. The UE ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause theUE to: indicate a maximum number of PUSCH transmission configurations,wherein the maximum number of PUSCH transmission configurations isdetermined based, at least in part, on a balancing between DCI messageoverhead and DCI message payload size.
 6. The UE of claim 1, wherein amaximum number of PUSCH transmission configurations are predefined,wherein the maximum number of PUSCH transmission configurations isdetermined based, at least in part, on a balancing between DCI messageoverhead and DCI message payload size.
 7. The UE of claim 1, wherein theindicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations includes atransmission gap between each PUSCH transmission indicated by the set ofPUSCH transmission configuration.
 8. The UE of claim 1, wherein theindicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations does not include atransmission gap between each PUSCH transmission indicated by the set ofPUSCH transmission configuration.
 9. The UE of claim 1, wherein thenetwork entity operates according to 3GPP Fifth Generation New Radio (5GNR) radio access technology (RAT).
 10. An apparatus, comprising: amemory; and at least one processor in communication with the memory,wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive radioresource control (RRC) signaling from a network entity to configureidentify a data structure that includes one or more sets of physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission configurations, wherein thedata structure is defined using abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) andincludes a time domain allocation list parameter, and wherein the timedomain allocation list parameter specifies at least one of a maximumnumber of PUSCH transmission allocations, a K2 value, a PUSCH mappingtype, or a start and length indicator value (SLIV); receive, from thenetwork entity, a downlink control information (DCI) message, whereinthe DCI message includes a time domain resource assignment field (TDRA),new data indicators (NDIs) corresponding to PUSCH transmissions, and asingle priority class information field, wherein a value of the TDRAindicates a set of PUSCH transmission configurations included in thedata structure; and perform the PUSCH transmissions spanning a single ormultiple slots over an unlicensed band according to the indicated set ofPUSCH transmission configurations and a priority class indicated in thepriority class information field.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, whereinthe indicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations includes atransmission gap between each PUSCH transmission indicated by the set ofPUSCH transmission configuration.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, whereinthe indicated set of PUSCH transmission configurations does not includea transmission gap between each PUSCH transmission indicated by the setof PUSCH transmission configuration.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the network entity operates according to 3GPP Fifth GenerationNew Radio (5G NR) radio access technology (RAT).
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 10, wherein each set of PUSCH transmission configurations includesone or more PUSCH transmission configurations.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 10, wherein HARQ process identifiers associated with PUSCHretransmissions are indicated via the DCI message, and wherein a bit mapindicates HARQ process identifiers to be retransmitted using CBG-basedretransmissions, wherein a starting transmission slot and length ofCBG-based retransmissions are indicated by the DCI message, wherein thestarting transmission slot is relative to a first PUSCH transmission ofa schedule indicated by the DCI message, and wherein the startingtransmission slot and length are indicated via a single informationelement included in the DCI message, and wherein the CBG-basedretransmissions are indicated via one or more CBG transmissioninformation (TI) information elements (IEs).
 16. A non-transitorycomputer readable memory medium storing program instructions executableby processing circuitry to cause a user equipment device (UE) to:receive radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a network entity toidentify a data structure that includes one or more sets of physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission configurations, wherein thedata structure is defined using abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) andincludes a time domain allocation list parameter, and wherein the timedomain allocation list parameter specifies at least one of a maximumnumber of PUSCH transmission allocations, a K2 value, a PUSCH mappingtype, or a start and length indicator value (SLIV); receive, from thenetwork entity, a downlink control information (DCI) message, whereinthe DCI message includes a time domain resource assignment field (TDRA),new data indicators (NDIs) corresponding to PUSCH transmissions, and asingle priority class information field, and wherein a value of the TDRAindicates a set of PUSCH transmission configurations included in thedata structure; and perform the PUSCH transmissions spanning a single ormultiple slots over an unlicensed band according to the indicated set ofPUSCH transmission configurations and a priority class indicated in thepriority class information field.
 17. The non-transitory computerreadable memory of claim 16, wherein HARQ process identifiers associatedwith PUSCH retransmissions are implicitly determined by the UE.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer readable memory of claim 16, wherein HARQprocess identifiers associated with PUSCH retransmissions are indicatedvia the DCI message, and wherein a bit map indicates HARQ processidentifiers to be retransmitted using CBG-based retransmissions.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer readable memory of claim 18, wherein a startingtransmission slot and length of CBG-based retransmissions are indicatedby the DCI message, wherein the starting transmission slot is relativeto a first PUSCH transmission of a schedule indicated by the DCImessage, and wherein the starting transmission slot and length areindicated via a single information element included in the DCI message.20. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 18,wherein the CBG-based retransmissions are indicated via one or more CBGtransmission information (TI) information elements (IEs).